The headquarters of the Eighth Route Army has ordered the expansion of the Seventh Column into the Seventh Corps, which will have two columns under its jurisdiction: the Seventh Column and the Seventeenth Column.Among them, the Seventh Column has jurisdiction over the new First Division, the New Second Division, the New Third Division, the New Fourth Division, the New Fifth Division, the Seventh Artillery Division, and the Seventh Cavalry Division, with a total strength of about 160,000 troops.The headquarters of the Eighth Route Army ordered that the forces of the three divisions assembled in Rehe Province be reorganized into the new 21st Division, the 22nd Division, and the 23rd Division, which were assigned to the 17th Column battle sequence, and the newly formed 17th Artillery Division and the 17th Cavalry Division were all included in the 17th Column battle sequence, and the units under the Jizhong Military Region were reorganized into the new 24th Division and the new 25th Division, and all of them were also included in the 17th Column battle sequence.Although the 17th Column is the same as the 7th Column, it has just been formed, and the number of troops is not uniform, and the 17th Column is currently only about 120,000 people, and it is scattered in Rehe and Jizhong.The armored division has been further expanded, with a total strength of more than 40,000 troops, which has been assigned to the units directly under the Seventh Corps, and the teaching brigade has been expanded to be a teaching instructor and has been placed under the direct command of the Seventh Corps.Of course, this includes non-combatants such as logistics arms, and there are not so many real combat units.Even so, the strength of the Seventh Corps has swelled rapidly, and its strength has increased greatly, even exceeding the original plan of more than 200,000 people.The reason for such a change is also due to the change in the situation, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army has learned about Gangcun Ningci's plan through secret channels, so it is ready to concentrate superior forces, break through the Shanhaiguan defense line as soon as possible, and march into the pass.The Japanese have done a very good job of secrecy measures, and even the all-pervasive underground party of the Eighth Route Army can hardly get valuable information from within the Japanese army, especially this time, Gangmura Ningji personally supervised the supervision, and the underground party of the Eighth Route Army only sensed that Gangcun Ningji was planning a big plan, but as for the real content of the plan, it is not very clear.However, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army still managed to get the information it wanted, and the source of the information was not from within the Japanese army, but from the Central Army.In order to implement this plan, Gangcun Ningji deliberately leaked the plan to the Central Army, hoping to get their cooperation.However, the secrecy of the Central Army was not so strict, and the underground party of the Eighth Route Army soon got this amazing plan and reported it to the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army as soon as possible.After the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army got the news, it began to adjust its deployment and strictly ordered Li Guotao's Seventh Corps to move south as soon as possible and break through the Shanhaiguan defense line.After receiving the order, Li Guotao did not dare to slack off, Li Guotao had already planned to launch an attack as soon as possible, so he had no worries.In the headquarters of the Seventh Corps, Li Guotao said with a serious face: "The order of the headquarters, I think you must have already known, at present, the Japanese army from northern Henan to southern Hebei is massing on a large scale, preparing to transfer Shanhaiguan to the north to block our army's entry into the customs, we must rush to the devil's reinforcements to break through the Shanhaiguan defense line and go south to capture Tianjin as soon as possible." ”Chief of Staff Ma Zhenguo said with a serious face: "Commander, at present, all units have rushed to the front line, and they have made sufficient preparations to launch a general attack on the Japanese army at any time. ”"Well, since that's the case, then I won't say more."
Li Guotao nodded with satisfaction, turned around and walked to the sand table, and ordered with a serious face: "Immediately order the five infantry divisions of the Seventh Column, with the assistance of the artillery division and the Eighth Route Army Air Force, to launch a frontal general attack on Shanhaiguan to contain the enemy at Shanhaiguan." ”"Yes," Yang Xuecheng, the new commander of the Seventh Column, replied loudly with a serious expression."
Order, the new 21st Division, the new 22nd Division, the new 23rd Division, the 17th Cavalry Division of the 17th Column, as well as the cavalry division of the 7th Column, the armored division directly under the Corps, and the instructors and other units, immediately launch a comprehensive attack on Xifengkou, Lengkou and other passes along the Great Wall.After breaking through the defense line of the Great Wall, the troops went straight to Tangshan and other places to cut off the southward escape route of the Japanese army at Shanhaiguan, and must assemble the enemy on the front line of Shanhaiguan and annihilate it in one fell swoop. ”"Yes" Ma Zhenguo hurriedly responded, and then said: "Please rest assured, commander, I will convey the order to the corresponding troops." ”None of the generals of the above-mentioned units were on the Shanhaiguan front.Li Guotao nodded slightly and said: "There is one more point, immediately send an order to the Jizhong Military Region, ordering the new 24th Division and the new 25th Division to immediately assemble and launch an appropriate offensive against the enemy along the Jinpu Railway near Cangzhou to Dezhou, so as to destroy the railway and contain the Japanese troops." ”"Yes," Ma Zhenguo replied again.Li Guotao took a deep breath, and then said with a serious face: "All troops will launch an offensive on all fronts early tomorrow morning, and this battle is of great importance, and only victory is allowed, not defeat."
Early the next morning, the main force of the Seventh Column of the Eighth Route Army took the lead in launching a powerful offensive at Shanhaiguan, and amid the rumbling of artillery, the Japanese army immediately fell into a burst of artillery fire on the position of dozens of kilometers long on the Shanhaiguan line.At the same time, the Air Force of the Eighth Route Army also dispatched hundreds of planes to bomb Japanese positions.Subsequently, the 17th Column of the Eighth Route Army and other units also launched a large-scale offensive at the Xifengkou, Lengkou and other Great Wall checkpoints.After receiving the news, Gangcun Ningci was shocked and hurriedly ordered all troops on the front line to defend the defensive line, resolutely resist the attack of the Eighth Route Army, and prevent the main force of the Eighth Route Army from entering the pass.However, at this time, the Japanese army had only amassed more than 60,000 troops near Shanhaiguan, and could barely resist it with strong fortifications.At the checkpoints along the Great Wall such as Xifengkou and Lengkou, the Japanese army was relatively empty.In just one day, the Eighth Route Army broke through the checkpoints along the Great Wall such as Xifengkou and Lengkou.Then the commander of the Eighth Route Army drove straight into Tangshan.In particular, the Armored Division and the Seventh Cavalry Division, the Seventeenth Cavalry Division moved the most quickly, marched rapidly overnight, and rushed to the vicinity of Tangshan in the early morning of the next day, and surrounded Tangshan City in one fell swoop.At the same time, after a day of fierce fighting, the Japanese army near Shanhaiguan also suffered heavy losses, and the Japanese defense line was precarious, and there was a danger of being broken through by the Eighth Route Army at any time.The most important thing is that the Eighth Route Army has surrounded Tangshan, and once Tangshan is lost, tens of thousands of Japanese troops on the front line of Shanhaiguan will be completely encircled by the Eighth Route Army.aa2705221: